Harvard Fellow: Many Americans 'Can't Afford to Buy Food'

A Harvard University fellow told CNBC this week that an increasing number of Americans "simply can't afford to buy food" and are forced to "start stretching out grocery payments."

A LendingTree survey recently reported that roughly two-thirds of consumers have expressed concerns about how to afford groceries amid high inflation rates.

Marshall Lux, a fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, noted that companies that allow users to pay later such as Klarna, Zip, and others, have seen a rise in grocery and household item purchases in recent months.

"The fact that there's a large number of Americans that simply can't afford to buy food highlights the desperation that this economic climate creates," Lux said.

"Once people start stretching out grocery payments it shows the height of personal desperation," he continued.

Lux said that people could "overextend themselves," and noted that "for someone who has the ability to pay, this is an interest-free loan."

Monash University emerging technologies researcher Jathan Sadowski took a more critical stance on the issue, telling The New York Times that "buy-now-pay-later companies have really insidiously and ingeniously kind of like marketed themselves and advertised themselves as, 'I am just your friend, I am just here to help you out.'"

• NYT: Many Americans Turning to Buy Now, Pay Later Services to Purchase Groceries
• Consumer Watchdog Takes Aim at Buy Now, Pay Later Programs